


The Settlement Just Cheering You Along

by GamblingDementor



Series: Post Nuclear War Apocalypse In the Heights (Camp El Barrio) [2]
Category: In the Heights - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fallout, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-20 10:23:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9487076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GamblingDementor/pseuds/GamblingDementor
Summary: Collection of ficlets from Tumblr prompts that I chose to fill within the post-nuclear war apocalypse of my fic Welcome to Camp El Barrio.





	1. I'm pregnant (Nina/Benny)

 

In her long lasting project of renovating the camp, Nina's underground lab has been the very last building to get rebuilt. The staircase still smells of fresh pine lumber as Benny walks down to kiss her goodbye before today's mission. It's still early in the day, before breakfast, light just starting to pour down the windows near the ceiling of this lab buried in the ground that Nina has made her home.

 

Benny whistles happily on his short way down. He's not worried about the mission. It's not even elite squad business, just some routine scouting in the woods down south with the security team. They'll head out for a day and before he knows, he'll be back to find his lovely Nina haunched over some volume or experiment as she always is. Except she isn't now. He finds her pacing across the empty lab, hands into her thick hair. Anxious.

 

" _Nina_ ," he says gently.

 

She gasps when she hears his voice, turns around with hands now clasped on her mouth. He flashes her his best smile, the one that makes her giggle like a girl, closing the few steps of distance between them. His arms tight around her always make her feel better.

 

"What's wrong, sweet cheek?"

 

She shakes her head, buries it in his chest. If she needs more cajoling, Benny will be there to give her exactly that, as much as she wants. It's a few long minutes of rubbing her back till she talks.

 

"I'm pregnant," she says, muffled against the chestpiece of his armor.

 

A rush of thoughts flows through Benny's mind, all of them more nonsensical than the next, all of them exciting. Nina is still face-first against him, her body smaller in his arms than it really is. He caresses her back gently, a hand riding under her sweater to softly hold the creek of her back.

 

"What are you thinking?"

 

"What am I _thinking_?!" She pushes on his torso, stepping back to sit down on her stool with a huff of discontent. He glances down but her belly is no different than it was yesterday or the day before that. "I'm thinking my parents will kill me. I'm thinking you and I don't even have a home of ours, and I have no idea if you want kids, and I don't know how this even happened, _oh my god_."

 

"I have some idea," he smirks, but the glare she gives him wasn't worth the joke.

 

"This is important, Benny," she retorts seriously. "Can you imagine our lives with a child? You're out there every day risking your life, and I haven't taken care of a kid since Sonny. I don't know what to do." She sighs, her head down her crossed arms on the table. "I don't know what to do."

 

She's looking so helpless, something Nina Rosario never is. Not if he's here for her every minute of their lives.

 

"What I'm thinking," he says softly, sitting down on the stool next to hers, "Is that your parents have probably been craving grandkids since you and Link stopped wearing diapers."

 

She snorts.

 

"It's true! I'm sure they'll love the child no matter what, you know that."

 

She slowly lifts up her head from the table, still pouting, but he's sure he can snap a smile out of her very soon.

 

"I'm thinking that Daniela trusts me and I'm sure I'll be able to request a private dwelling with you. Didn't you have the housing quarters near the forgery rebuilt not long ago? There's free room there."

 

She nods reluctantly. A hand reaches down to hold her belly.

 

"I'm thinking I want to do everything with you and to be together forever," he says. "You and a little Nina." She gives him a shy smile and their fingers interlace on her still flat stomach. "Or maybe even a little boy Nina."

 

A short laugh, and she leans against his shoulder.

 

"What about a little girl Benny?"

 

"We'll see," he smiles. "We can do this, Nina."

 

"Can we?" She asks, but not so much in desperation as in reassurance.

 

He nods.

 

"First, there isn't anything you can't do, and then, I protect the whole camp from ghouls and raiders and birds for a living, I can protect one tiny baby. We can do this."

 

She takes in what he said, her hand tense in his. Then she sighs, stands back up.

 

"Usnavi is gonna be thrilled about this."

 

A knock at the door startles them both and said kitchen boy walks in with his basket of breakfast rations. It's going to be a long and happy breakfast together.


	2. I could kill you right now (Vanessa & Sonny)

"Stop right there at once," Sonny orders, trying to sound more assertive than he really is.

 

His hands are shaking and he's afraid that he's going to drop the gun. How pathetic would that be, the one night he's put on watch duty on the walls of the camp, finally getting that privilege after months of begging Daniela to let him be one of the guys, and he gets killed off just like that, like he's a side character in a villain's story. The shadow he spotted refuses to move, down the wall near the wilted bushes. From here, Sonny is probably a bit too far to be confident that his aim would touch the mysterious person. Could they hit him? He's not sure the shadow is as untrained a sniper as he is.

 

"I'm not kidding, man, show your face or get the fuck away from our camp."

 

The shadow won't budge. Sonny is scared to shit, but he can't show it, not the very first time on the walls. It's not like he's not used to going outside. He's been to the wasteland, he basically works there, but not like this. Not without security flanked by his side, not in the middle of the night with the future of the camp resting on his shoulders. _Not really_ , he tries to tell himself. He's just patrolling the wall on the East end, there's other guards around who will come to help if there's trouble.

 

"I could kill you!" Sonny shrieks and he hates that he still sounds like a baby, sixteen and yet his voice still squeaks from time to time. "If you don't show your face, I could kill you right now!"

 

"Shit, Son', you're not joking around," the shadow taunts him.

 

And suddenly the shadow is not unknown anymore, it has a face and that face is one of a total jerk who really should have better plans for her night strolls than scare him to death.

 

"Dammit, V, don't do that!"

 

Vanessa's laugh echoes through the dark night as she walks away. A few minutes later he hears her climbing up the ladder to the top of the walls.

 

"Boo!" She whispers in his ear and he hates that he still startles.

 

"I _actually_ could kill you right now," he pouts. "Did Dani send you to test me or something?"

 

"Nope," she replies, sitting down heavily, her legs dangling on the outside. Ghouls could climb up, raiders shoot on her if she's not under cover, but she's never afraid. Sonny wishes he knew what that's like. "Got the idea on my own."

 

"Well, you've succeeded," he says, gripping his rifle all the tighter.

 

She looks at him fondly, then snorts and looks back at the dark, dark unknown wasteland surrounding camp.

 

"I'm keeping watch with you tonight," she says.

 

"What, like I can't do it on my own?!"

 

"Your hands were shaking so hard you couldn't have aimed to save your life. _Literally_ to save your life. You don't _want_ to be here on your own."

 

Sonny grumbles. She's not wrong.

 

"Not everyone can be like you, Miss Elite Squad."

 

"Not everyone has to be," she says plainly, patting the wall next to her to invite him to sit down. "We're elite for a reason."

 

He begrudgingly obliges her invitation, but keeps his legs inside the banister. She pats his back.

 

"You never stop being afraid," she says wistfully. "Not you specifically. Just, everyone is scared. Can't control being scared. You _can_ control what you do when you are."

 

"Daniela isn't scared."

 

"Okay, everyone _but Daniela_ is scared."

 

"A'ight."

 

She rests her head against his shoulder. For someone who is allegedly still afraid, she's being pretty relaxed.

 

"You want me to stay for the rest of the shift?"

 

He looks down at the rifle on his lap, his hands clutching it. Still shaking.

 

"Yeah," he breathes out.

 

There's barely any sign of life through the night, just one lone two-headed deer that Vanessa tells him not to shoot, because they're getting scarce these days and they need game for hunting. Their watch ends by dawn after long hours of nothing.

 

"Alright," Vanessa tells him when their replacement has arrived and they're climbing down the wall. "Now you go find Dani, she wanted to see you by first lights."

 

"What? When am I gonna sleep?"

 

She yawns and turns away towards the sleeping quarters.

 

"Elite squad privilege," she calls back, not even facing him. "You'll sleep when you're dead."

 

"That doesn't make any sense! You're even more likely to die than me!"

 

"I'm sorry, elite squad never dies."

 

 

He hears her cackle all the way to the sleeping rooms and he tells himself that she's wrong. Elite squad could die, because he feels very much like killing her again right now. He sighs and gets to Daniela's office as asked.


	3. You're so cute when you pout like that (Vanessa & Sonny)

"Alright," Vanessa says, holding up the open backpack. "Hand 'em over now."

 

Sonny's face jerks her way as if she'd suggested they burn everything they just bought.

 

"What?!" He screeches.

 

Vanessa sighs, keeps the bag open, her glare insistent.

 

"Whatcha want me to do, just give you everything?"

 

"Yup," she nods.

 

He opens his mouth, outraged, and closes it a few times. The settler across the trading booth looks at them with a smirk she tries to hide, but Vanessa is unwavering. Very reluctantly, and one by one, Sonny drops the guns and ammunition he just bought in the bag, a heavy sigh with each of them.

 

"You are so not fun as a security guard," he groans.

 

"I'll be sure to tell Daniela about the feedback," she comments, patting his shoulder.

 

They set course back for camp at once. Just a small trip to rehaul the security team weaponry, and normally Sonny and Pete would have been sent together. They always are, two peas in a pod who can't stand to not work together, but this week, Pete seems to have fallen ill, a common cold he caught from travelers from the North, yet enough to get him under Claudia's watch. And so, Vanessa replaced him as security to ensure Sonny a safe trading trip to this small settlement renowned for its gun trader. And she enforces rules a whole lot better than Pete seems to, in her honest opinion.

 

"Pete always lets me hold the guns," Sonny grumbles under his breath, kicking a rock.

 

Vanessa kicks the same rock a few steps farther down the road. It's a nice path they've walked on today, one of her favorites. Looping across the forest-covered hills by the camp, it's tranquil enough that one security guard is more than enough. In four years in the squad on the security team, she's never heard of anyone getting assaulted on this road.

 

"You not even using 'em!" He shouts, trotting to keep up her brisk pace.

 

"What do you want me to do?" She laughs. "Take 'em all out and shoot rounds in the air?"

 

"Now I kinda do," he says sadly.

 

She doesn't reply. There isn't much to say to a sulking kid like him.

 

"You're no fun," he repeats once again.

 

"You're so cute when you pout like that," she replies, punching his shoulder − a tad too hard, as he stumbles for a few steps but doesn't fall so no harm was done. "You should ask Daniela to put you on weapon training."

 

"You think?" He asks eagerly and beams when she nods. "Maybe I will."

 

She smiles. She'll be the first to volunteer to train him if he ever does.

 

 

He asks if he can hold the weapons another ten times before they reach camp.


	4. This is by far the dumbest thing you've ever done (Sonny & Nina)

On the down days when Vanessa isn't out on a mission with the squad or the security team, Daniela assigns her to various jobs, sometimes at Vanessa's specific request, mostly where help is most needed. This month, she's been rounded up quite often to help the teachers on the training grounds. Paranoia or caution, Daniela has assigned every dweller of El Barrio to pass a personal training of self-defense and Yesenia has had her hands full. Twenty different dwellers every day, enough that camp can still run full speed, but a lot for Yesenia who is used to more focused training group with the soldiers.

 

"Yo," she grabs Vanessa's arm, panting. "Can you watch them for a minute? Especially Son…"

 

A sharp yelp interrupts her and Yesenia's face falls. Vanessa pats her shoulder.

 

"I'll handle him." Then to the rest of the group of helpless settlers who never asked for this training but got enrolled because Daniela's orders are law, "You take five now, and don't play with the blades."

 

She flashes them threatening eyes in case any of them gets any idea. She finds Sonny lying on the ground, whimpering and curled into himself. She crouches, a hand on his shoulder.

 

"Yo, Son'."

 

"Am I dead?" He asks, squinting up at her.

 

"You wish," she grumbles. "Show me where you hurt yourself."

 

Dramatically, he holds up his left arm he'd been clutching on and she takes a look. The boy managed to cut himself in a self-defense class. More like self-assault for some of them, it seems. She checks the cut more closely. There is quite a bit of blood and the cut is fairly deep for such a quick accident, but nothing he won't survive. It will probably be healed by the end of the month. He'll be just fine.

 

"Come," she orders. "Let Claudia have a look at it."

 

"I can't walk like this!" He yelps, offended.

 

"The cut is in your _hand_."

 

He whimpers some more, turning back to the ground. Vanessa sighs. Grabbing him by the waist, she pulls his dead weight until he's balanced on her back. A big fat baby.

 

"Damn you're heavy…"

 

"I'm a growing boy, I gotta eat," he retorts. "Am I gonna be a ghost boy soon?"

 

"If you keep getting on my nerves like that, you might," she replies and that shuts him up all the way across camp.

 

Claudia is all worried when she sees him humped on Vanessa's back as they get to the healing hut and grabs her supplies immediately to tend to the cut.

 

"Mijo, you'll get yourself killed if you play with weapons," she tells him, patting his chest affectionately. "Leave them to the soldiers. Be a good boy."

 

He winces more than a little as she stitches his wound back together, even though she poured generous amounts of soothing balm, and Vanessa takes pity on him and lets him grasp her hand with the intact one − he almost breaks her wrist and she strongly regrets the decision. Finally, even if Sonny insisted he needed at least two nights' rest at the healing hut to feel better from the grave injury, Claudia lets him go, instructing Vanessa to bring him to his work station with no more knife play.

 

"So, what the hell happened?" Vanessa asks, walking him back to the collect stall he normally works at.

 

"I cut myself," Sonny answers, like a dumbass.

 

"Yeah, I _saw_ ," she snorts and punches his shoulder playfully. "That's cause you been training all week."

 

He grunts.

 

"It was supposed to be just one day of training," she insists. "Yesenia noticed, I told her to leave it be, but I shouldn't have, you got hurt."

 

He grumbles something under his breath, walks a bit faster.

 

"What was that?" She smirks, picking up the pace. Does he think he can outrun her? She's taller and bigger than him.

 

"I wanted to become strong and impress Petie," he admits through gritted teeth. "But I suck at it…"

 

"Oh, cariño… That is the dumbest thing you've ever done…"

 

"Oh, you shut your damn…"

 

He pouts and noticeably turn away from her. She grabs him by the arm and makes him look at her. He does, and so defiantly she doubts her plan for a second, but she knows these two boys each so well. She flexes the biceps of her left arm, her best one, the one she wields her blade with. Sonny looks at her like he wants to kill her, but a question in his eyes too.

 

"Ya seen this?" She asks, dropping her arm back to her side.

 

He nods angrily.

 

"Pete seen them too," she says simply. "Son', he doesn't care about muscles, not him."

 

Sonny keeps his pout, but there's a smile hidden behind it now, she's sure. She smiles. They've reached his work station where Pete is counting their goods for the day and his eyes lighten up when he sees them. Vanessa nods in his direction, then pats Sonny's shoulder.

 

"If you're back at training before at least a month, I'll tell Dani you tried to stab me and she'll have you on sewage duty."

 

His mouth gaps open.

 

"Dios mío, V, you're the worst!"

 

"One month, alright?"

 

They fistbump the agreement and she leaves him be. Yesenia is in dire need of her help on the training grounds − though it'll be much easier without an exhausted Sonny messing with the rest of the group.


End file.
